From: Anders Sandberg (nv91-asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Mon Oct 28 1996 - 09:06:28 MST
On Wed, 23 Oct 1996, Chris Hind wrote:
> The organism is living inside your head feeding off of your blood like a
> paracite while it replaces neurons with organic pointers to locations of
> stored data inside the virtual world. A neuron impulse would bounce neuron
> to neuron to organic pointer where it would then disappear and continue it's
> path through the virtual neuron circuitry inside the virtual world. Neuron
> impulses would bounce between real neurons and virtual neurons seamlessly
> until the entire brain had become converted.
This is extremely non-trivial biotechnology. It is far beyond even normal
morphogenesis, since it requires not only self-reproduction and being
immune-neutral, but also fast and reliable neural processing on a subcellular
level to be able to mimic the neurons, a means of scanning the properties of
a neuron, a way of replacing it while it is still working (neurons can extend
their axons for a long distance, up to a meter; growth this far takes a lot
of time!) and finally being able to interface with the outside world in an
useful manner.
Not impossible, but extremely hard (normal nanotech has the same problem
in this scenario, but is at least smaller and doesn't require the same
cytoplasmic machinery to reproduce and act). Using some kind of virus
that rebuilds neurons from the inside might be possible.
> Explain the actions of glia cells though.
They are the non-firing cells that make up 90% of the brain mass. Some of
them seem to give neurons nutrient and isolate them from each other.
Others buffer their electrical activity, taking up ions and
neurotransmittors. And some, the microglia, appear to work as immune
cells, eating junk or damaged cells. There is plenty going on among the
cells!
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Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension!
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